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I was listening to something on the radio and the gene that controls the patterning in zebras is apparently a very old gene, the same that controls the distribution of feathers in birds and the ‘teeth’ on a shark’s hide.

Allegedly there is something very different between horse-mind and zebra-mind and zebras are, well, genetically determined to be ornery. Or something like that. I suppose they are too far drifted from horses or there’d be zorts.

@Marcus, #2: well, actually, there are zorses and zebroids, which are crosses with horses, depending on which is the male/female in the cross. The deal is that zebras have a HUGE startle reflex and it does not work out well when that animal is trying to get along with humans. (Only rarely do you get humans trying to get along with other animals. But one can hope.) So no, they are not ornery, or mean or bad -- they are just not suitable to be ridden or lorded over by humans. Horses are quite gentle and quiet in this regard, and although their startle reflex has caused way more than one human to end up on the ground, it is not so gigantic as to completely take over.

I’ve met a couple of zebras in captivity and the human (or humans, as the case may be) need to be really willing to work with and understand another living, thinking, feeling creature. If that happens, it can work out pretty well. Even so yes, zebras are markedly different because they are actually a wild animal and not domesticated.

But aside from all that these photos are really cool. I love zebras… it would be great if they were domesticated, but they aren’t, so they just do not make good pets. But they are still a really cool animal.